Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-04-18
been so much violent discussion, have
only words of


only words of
PRAISE FOR THOSE ASSOCIATIONS
which baye for their object the mainten-
ance of right against wrong, or the recla-
NATION OF inebriates, or, like the score OF
mutual benefit societies called by different
names, that provide temporary relief for
widows and orphans, and for men incapac-
itated by sickness or accident from earning
a livelihood. Had it not been for the
large number of secret labor organizations
in this country monopoly would long ago
have, under its pOnderous wheels, ground
the labOring classes into an intolerable SER
yitude The men whe want the whole
earth to themselves would have got it be-
fore this, had it not been for the banding
together of great secret organizations. And,
while we deplore many things that have
been done by them, their existence is a
necessity, and their legitimate sphere dis
tiDctly pointed out by the provi-
dence of God. Such organizations are trying
TO dismiss from their association all mem
bers in favor of anarchy and social chaos.
They will gradually cease anything like
tyranny over their members and will for
bid violent interference with any mans
work whether he belongs to their union or
| is outside of il, and will declare their dis
gust with any such rule as that passed in
! isngiand by the Manchester Brieklayers'
Association, which says any man found
running or working beyond a regular
| speed shall be fined two shillings and six
pence for the first Offense, five shillings for
the second, ten shillings for the third and
| if still perssting shall be dealt with as the
committee think proper. There are Sc
cret societies in our colleges that have let
| tiers of the Greek alphabet for their nOmen-
clature, aud their members ale at the
very front in scholarship and irreprOach-
able i'll morals, while there are Others the
scene of carousal, and they gamble and
they drink, and they graduate knowing a
hundred times more about sin than they
do of geometry and SophOcles. In other
words secret societies like individuals are
good OF bad, are the means of moral health
or OF temporal and eternal damnation.
All good people recognize the vice of SLAM
dering an individual but many do not see
the sin of slandering an organization.
There are old secret societies in this and
other countries, some Ofthem centuries old,
which have been widely
DENOUNCED AS IMMORAL AND DAMAGING
in their influence, yet l have hundreds of
personal friends who belong to them,
| friends who are cOnsecrated TO God, pillars
IN the church, faithful in all relations of
life, examples of virtue ami piety. They
are the kind OF friends whom would have
for my executors if | am so happy as to
leave anything for my household at the
time of decease, and they are the men
whom would have carry me out to the
last sleep when | am dead. You cannot
make me believe that they would belong
TO bad institutions. They are the men
who would stamp ON nything iniquitOus,
and would certainly rather take their tes-
timony in regard to such societies than
the testimony Of those who, having
been sworn in as members, by their as
sault upon the society confess themselves
perjurers. One of these secret societies
gave for the relief OF the sick in 1873, in
this country, 81, 400, 274. Some of these
societies have poured very heaven of
sunshine and benedictiOn into the home
OF suffering Several of them are founded
ON fidelity to good citizenship and the
| Bible. | have never taken one of their
degrees. They might give me the grip
| Thousand times, and would not recognize
it.. am ignorant of their pass words and
| must judge entirely from the outside.
But Christ has given us rule by which
we may Judge not only all individuals but
lall societies, secret and open. "By their
l,fruits We shall know them" Bad soCie-
| ties make bad men. Good societies make
good men. A bad man will not stay in a
good society. A good man will not stay
societies by two or three rules.
Test the first:
THEIR INFLUENCE ON HOME,
if you have home. That wife soon loses
her influence over her husband who nerv-
Ously and fOolishly looks upon all evening
absence as an assault Oh domesticitY. How
are the great enterprises of reform, and art,
and literature, and beneicence and public
veal is to he carried on if every man is to
have his world bounded on one side by his
front door step, and on the other side by
his back window, knowing nothing higher
than his own attic or lower than his own
cellar? That wife who becomes Jealous of
her husbands g attention to art or literature
or religion or charity Is breaking her own
| SCeptTe OF CODlugal power. | know All in
stance where wife thought that her hus-
band was giving too many nights to
| Christian service, to charitable service, TO
prayer meetings, and to religious convoca-
tiOn. She Systematically decOyed him
| Mi ha 90 do oh
waits upon no charitable institution, and
is on rapid way to destruction, his morals
gone, his money gone, and fear his soul
gone. Let any Christian wife rejoice when
her husband cOnsecrates evenings to the
service of humanity, and of God or char
ity, or art, or anything elevating.
But let no man sacrifice home life TO
secret society life, as many do. / can
point out TO you q great many names Of
men who are guilty of this sacrilege. They
are as genial as angels at the society room,
and as ugly as sin at home. They are
generous on all subjects of wine suppers,
yachts and fast horses, but they are stingy
about the wives dresses and the childrens
shoes. That man has made that, which
might be healthful influence, usurper
OF his affections, and he has married it,
and he is guilty of moral bigamy. Under
this process, the wife, whatever her fea-
lures, becomes uninteresting and homely.
He becomes critical of her. does not like
the dress, does not like the way
she arranges her hair, is amazed
that he ever was so unrOmantic
as to offer hand and heart. There are Sc
Cret societies where membership always in
wolves domestic shipwTeck. Tell me that
man has joined n certain kind, and tell
Inc nothing more about him for ten years,
and will write his history if he is still
alive. The man is wine guzzler, his wife
brOkenhearted or prematurely old, his for
tune gone or reduced, and his home mere
name in a directory. Here are six secular
nights in the week. What shall do
with them ?' says the father and the hus-
band. Il will give four of these nights to
the improvement and entertainment of my
| family, either at home or in q good neigh